i am looking to get new tires for my 1972 GS. it is a 90% street 10%strip car. i want tires that will hook up strong on the street, be able to handle the traction if i get caught in the rain, and fit in the wheel wells without tubbing the car. i have Goodyear eagles on the back and BF goodrich ta's on the front (i got holes in the goodyear fron tires a while back and they do not make the eagles any more). i have a set of goodyear GSC's on my '94 Z-28 and they are great, but they do not make them in 15" sizes. i have seen some toyo tires that are suppose to be very "grippy" tires, but i do not remeber what style they were. i have seen some of the BF goodrich tires that are not the drag radials but that are high perf tires. again i am looking for the largest tires that will fit in the back of the car (the front and back do not have to match sizes) that will give me great off the line and cornering traction and be able to get me home in a light?mod rain storm (if i get caught out in the rain). thanks john
John, I think if you want to use your stock wheels(7" wide), the biggest tire that will be safe is a P275-60R-15. They are 28" tall so it will change your axle ratio and speedo calibration. If you go with wider wheels you can put much wider tires on. (see some of the posts in this forum) I think for an overall street tire, the BF Goodrich Radial TA is hard to beat. I've heard some good things about Nittos, I think they are more like the drag radials though. Try looking around on www.tirerack.com good luck.
I've got Radial T/A's... and after spinning off the cheapie Dunlop Qualifiers that were on the car when I bought it, I can't get enough of the BFGs
i have 15x8 rims. what is the largest tires that i can place on them and fit in the wheel wells. john p.s. i saw BFG radial T/A 295 series tires. are they too large.
i was just reading about the BFG drag radials. what is the story with these tires? can you use them on the street? are these good tires? the people on tire rack sure like them. john
You can use them on the street but as with any DOT legal drag tire they aren't recommended for the rain. However, they are supposed to be better than others because of their radial construction, and they even have some regular-style tred. I've heard good things about them, never used them though.
I'm on my 2nd set of BFG Drag Radials after killing off a set of M&H's street slicks. Bias ply slicks hooked better from a dead stop, but didn't ride well at all. Seemed to want to swap ends all the time, since I had radials up front. Drag radials ride great, but dead stop traction is a real problem. However, they seem to work well from a roll. My GS is set up as more of a street brawler anyway, so I'm happy having them on the car full time. Caution- Don't get carried away with burnouts or leaving marks from every stop sign- you'll be out of tire in a hurry. One day they seemed OK, and the next time I looked, no rubber left! Another reason to launch from a roll when you can. :eek2:
What's yer beef with Dunlop GT's? I had them and were wearing quite well for the 20k on them, until the freeway decided to take two of 'em out.. I've heard the BFG's have a bit of road noise..??..
I haven't noticed any road noise and actually they are suprisingly quiet when they're spinning- no squal. But truth is my 3" x-pipe, radio and electric fuel pump would cover it anyway. If they hooked better and lasted longer BFG could charge more and still sell all they could make. Hope this helps.
are the BFG drag radials that much better than the BFG radial T/A tires? i do not race that often, but if it comes up, i would like to really hook-up. i would think that the 295/50 R15 T/A would be a good tire, but i am not sure what to go with. john
also what would the effect on the final gear ratio with different size tires? i heard there was a web site that would show that calculations for that, but i have forgotten it. john
I don't know for sure but I have heard that the Drag Radials like to fill up with small rocks if you heat them up. They are made of soft rubber almost like slicks. I have personally tried a friends set and wasn't too impressed with them. They didn't hook any better than a old pair of siped L60 15's that I ran for a season (on the street).
The Dunlops I had spun easier than the old 215 Michelin cheapie tires I have as burnout tires. They had about 35,000 miles on them and were virtually bald (my fault, I did a lot of burnouts and just spinning the tires from a stop but only after I realized it was semi-hard not to)... some people have had luck with them, I didn't. Not a lot of road noise with the BFGs in my experience. They still spin easily (well, one, since I don't have posi) but not nearly as easy as the Dunlops did.
My experience is that drag radials hook better than T/A's, but you have the previously mentioned wear problem and, yes, they do pick up every available rock when they're hot. You might want to invest the $30-40 for a set of the magnetic shields for the lower rear quarters. It would have saved me several paint chips from the drag radials. Still they ride great and hook, in my own opinion, better than anything but bias street slicks and drag slicks. It's all compromises.
